Beaver Pond is to be surrounded by a housing development, with 3,200 homes to be built on 200 hectares of forest. (CBC)

Kanata residents opposed to plans to develop a neighbouring forest are expected to crowd a public meeting Thursday night in a last-ditch effort to protect the land.

Residents have been trying to block development of two square kilometres of Beaver Pond Forest west of March Road in the western Ottawa suburb.

Six years ago Urbandale Construction and KNL Developments Inc. bought the land after city council approved the area for use as a subdivision.

Developers want to build about 3,200 houses, but have promised not to touch the pond and eight hectares of forest lining it.

But some area residents worry the subdivision will gut the forest. They have been trying to push council members to stop work on the subdivision, which is slated to begin next week.

South March Highlands Coalition spokesman Steve Hulaj said council hasn't doesn't enough throughout the process to ensure the forest and its wildlife is protected.

"We should be up in arms and we are, and now we need our political leaders to be up in arms and they're not, they're allowing another developer to come in and do whatever they want and it's ridiculous," said Hulaj.

Kanata North councillor Marianne Wilkinson said her inbox has been flooded with more than 400 emails from people opposing the development.

Developers need city staff approval: Wilkinson

The developers have told the city all the pre-development conditions have been met, but Wilkinson said that's not what city staff has told her. She put forth a motion before council on Wednesday reaffirming that city staff approval was needed before cutting could begin. The motion passed.

Wilkinson said she wants assurances rare trees will be preserved and an archeological plan will be put in place if diggers uncover historic objects.

She said she worries if developers start cutting before given approval, there might be an incident with protestors.

"I'm afraid that if they haven't got approval we'll have people picketing there and so on and that could be not very safe," said Wilkinson.

The two-hour public meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Hall A of the John G. Mlacak Centre in Kanata.

With files from the CBC's Robyn Burns